Ryuji doesn't go back to the party
by bigdragonman
Summary: After helping Ryuji with his love life, Taiga realizes her own strange affection for him. Unbeknownst to her, Ryuji witnesses her plight and comes to rescue her from loneliness.
1. chapter 1

**Author's Note: So as I'm writing this here note I haven't even started on the actual story, but the basic gist I have is that, like "And it happened on Christmas night" by DragonRyuuji, which I would certainly recommend if you like Toradora! and... fluff, this is meant to be a kind of different progression to the plot of the series. Like in DragonRyuuji's, we start off on the night of the school Christmas party, Christmas Eve, and continue in a separate path from that of the main timeline that is followed by the show and light novels. Hopefully you enjoy, I would like to keep this fiction pretty feel-good if you're interested in that, but of course all suggestions and criticisms are welcome. Anyway, onto the story!**

Taiga Aisaka sat, feeling lonely, on her single chair in her single apartment late on Christmas Eve, her red, silk scarf wrapped tightly around her face, and her glass miniature Christmas tree sitting alone on the table, a candle burning inside it, providing what little light there was in the room. Taiga had just returned home from her closest friend Minori Kushieda's house, and she was pretty exhausted after a long day of effort. After basically blackmailing her friend into going to their school Christmas party, Taiga had gone home feeling satisfied that her work was done.

Getting back to her apartment in the high rise building, Taiga suddenly noticed the crippling emptiness she was carrying with her. Too tired to change out of the tight black dress she had worn for the short time she was at the party, Taiga simply sat in the darkness of her front room and hoped Ryuji would be able to figure things out with Kushieda, the girl who Taiga was trying to help him ask out.

Suddenly there was a hard tapping at her bedroom window, and Taiga was snapped out of her fit of loneliness. Cautious of a burglar, or worse, a murderer, Taiga retrieved the wooden katana she sometimes used to... well, hit people, and went carefully to her room, turning on the light and peering through the window. To her surprise, what she was faced with was not a grizzled, threatening killer, but rather a big, fluffly brown bear in a red santa hat hanging stiffly on to her windowsill.

Not keen on watching santa die, Taiga quickly pulled the bear up through her window and looked at him as he stood up on the hard wood floor. A million thoughts raced through her mind, but the strongest one was that the Santa from her childhood had finally returned, and that she had been a good girl. Good enough for him to come back. Taiga quickly reverted into an almost childlike state, hugging the bear and showing off her small glass tree, to which he delivered a thumbs up.

After a while of gushing like a little girl, Taiga hugged santa once more and removed the mascot costume head, revealing a sweating, red-faced Ryuji.

"T-Taiga! You're not supposed to take off Santa Claus's head!" he stammered at her, startled slightly.

"I knew it was you, Ryuji. A fake Santa for a fake good girl, right?"

"W-Well..." Ryuji replied, unsure of how to proceed.

"Thanks anyway Ryuji... I'm glad you were thinking of me. But... You need to get back to the party, or you're gonna miss Minorin!"

After a moment more of pleasantries, Taiga had sent Ryuji on his way, still in the bear costume, as she sat back down the chair in her den. She noticed that the red scarf, the one she had stolen (or maybe been given?) from Ryuji, laying on the floor, having fallen from her neck in the commotion.

Taiga bent to pick it off the floor before noticing dark, wet spots appearing in the fabric. Teardrops were falling from Taiga's cheeks, and as she moved her small hand up to feel her wet face, she knew the reason why.

Taiga needed Ryuji by her side, and she needed to be by his side too. If Ryuji were to date Minorin, to finally accomplish the one thing he and Taiga had set out to do, thethere wouldn't be room for Taiga in his life, and Taiga didn't want that. Taiga wasn't exactly unattractive, and she knew she could get a boyfriend if she wanted to, but she didn't want any guy. She wanted, no, needed Ryuji.

"O-Oh..."

Taiga began to cry harder, sobbing into the soft cloth of Ryuji's red scarf. The scarf which still retained a bit of his scent, even after the past few weeks of exchange between the two of them. Without thinking, Taiga suddenly dashed out of her room, barefoot and barely covered from the elements. She ran down the hall, rushing out the apartment building's entrance and onto the street.

Taiga began to bawl and cry like a child as she fell to her knees on the cement sidewalk.

"R-Ryujiii!"

"I need... I need Ryuji!"

Crying the name of the man she had quickly realized she loved, Taiga sobbed and heaved for what seemed like ages. She thought, in a perfect world, or a manga or romance novel, the male lead would suddenly appear in the cold to rescue her. But Taiga knew Ryuji wasn't...

Suddenly, as if in answer to her thoughts, Taiga felt two thick arms wrap themselves around her, brown fur rubbing her bare arms and sheltering her from the cold.

"I'm here, Taiga, its okay..."

"I'm here."

Taiga's eyes streamed hot tears down her face as she turned and buried herself in Ryuji's chest, feeling his warmth in the cold winter night. Ryuji practically carried her back to his house, located of course just next door and adjacent to Taiga's high rise, setting her in front of the low table on the tatami mats and wrapping a thick blanket around her shoulders.

"You could have died, out in the cold like that. It's a good thing I was still there."

By then, Ryuji had changed out of the bear costume and into a pair of sweatpants and a blue sweater.

"Why were you still there? You should have been-"

"With Kushieda, yeah. I guess I stayed back because I had a feeling you would need me. Or something."

"Well you need to stop worrying about me and focus on yourself..."

"I should say the same thing to you, Taiga. If I'd known how you were feeling, I wouldn't have left your apartment at all."

"You... idiot. It's not about me. Its about you. And Minorin."

"I'm not letting you hurt yourself for my sake. Thats final."

"Ryuji... I..."

"I think I get it Taiga. I love you."

"You're just saying that, you idiot."

Ryuji ignored her.

"And I don't mean like a sibling, or... or a daughter, even. I mean that I love you. I guess I must, since we spend all this time together."

Taiga was silent, unable to think of anything to reply with. Ryuji continued.

"It's like I said back then. You're a tiger... I'm a dragon. And as long as that stands true, we'll be the only ones able to stand equal with one another. I love you, Taiga."

For a moment Taiga simply stated at him, in a way unable to understand the words she had just heard.

After a long while, Taiga finally let the words she had wanted to say slip.

"I love you, Ryuji. I love you."

After another moment's silence, she spoke again.

"Come over and sit next to me. I think I'm still cold."

"You think?"

"Just do it you idiot!"


	2. chapter 2

**AN: Ooh wee!!! So that's our first chapter all done! I cant say it feels perfect, but I think for a first attempt at fic-writing I think it's pretty decent. Once again I feel I need to give credit to DragonRyuuji for giving me inspiration to write this story. I hope yoy continue to read and review this work as it continues! Thanks!**

It was Christmas morning, and Ryuji and Taiga sat on the cool tatami mats of the Takasu residence facing eachother across the low table in the center of the room. The two of them hadn't spoken much that morning after the incident the night before had resulted in a rather spontaneous sleepover, but in no way was their previously stated affection not still felt. Still, to both of them, it all didn't quite feel real, and the scene when Ya-chan, Ryuji's mother, arrived late to find her son and her surrogate daughter/next door neighbor wrapped in one another's arms was, to say the very, very least, awkward as hell.

It was Taiga who first broke the radio silence.

"So... Minorin. What about Minorin?"

Ryuji, rather surprised by the sudden and needless to say difficult question, had trouble replying.

"W-Well, I kind of assumed that since you two were close friends you would handle it..."

"You dumb mongrel, how do you expect me to fix it? For one thing, she's gonna ask why you didn't meet her at the school, and for another, how are we going to tell her...!"

Taiga trailed off after mentioning the unmentionable. She and Ryuji were... Something or other now. She didn't know what to call it, but she knew it felt alien, and yet completely right, to think about.

What Taiga didn't know was that there wouldn't have to be any explanation of she and Ryuji's interesting relationship, as the girl she was so worried about had already witnessed everything and had already decided on a specific point of view.

The night before, Christmas Eve, Minori Kushieda had been on her way to check on Taiga, who had spontaneously appeared to force her to meet Takasu Ryuji at the school. While she hadn't planned on going to the Christmas party, Kushieda felt guilty about being so distant and decided to go, even for just Taiga's sake.

Minori knew Taiga however, and knew that without Takasu, she would be lonely. Thus, she decided to stop by Aisaka's home and check in on her to make sure she wasn't about to become depressed again.

It just so happened that this was exactly what happened, but just as Kushieda was rounding the corner onto Taiga's--and by extension Ryuji's--street, she hear the shrill shriek of a girl crying for a seemingly lost love. Kushieda could only stand and stare as her best friend screamed for the very boy she was going to meet.

Minori was not an idiot. She knew Ryuji's feelings for her, and she very much reciprocated them, but she was hesitant to return his affections, for exactly this reason. In Kushieda's opinion, Taiga and Ryuji were meant to be by one another's side, and because she loved them both, she wanted to do what would make them both happiest. This was when Kushieda decided to reject Takasu's love.

As it turned out, no such decision was needed. Just as Minori was about to continue on to the school--she knew Taiga hadn't noticed her presense--she had her predicament alleviated when Ryuji Takasu came to rescue his soon to be lover.

Minori was pretty happy with the way things were coming out, and she decided that she wasn't going to have to go to the Christmas party after all.


End file.
